


Sunshine and Promises

by WillowSong



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-05
Updated: 2014-11-05
Packaged: 2018-02-24 04:51:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2568824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WillowSong/pseuds/WillowSong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nico is having nightmares about Tartarus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sunshine and Promises

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this awhile ago for fun as a little side project, but then got pretty distracted by some other (bigger) projects. Then today, since I was craving solangelo so bad that it's not even funny, it seemed like a good time to finish this up. ^^

The people who think that sleep is relaxing clearly aren’t demigods.

Nico sat bolt upright with sweat dripping down his neck and back, shaking from the aftermath of his nightmare. He had gotten good at controlling his dreams, but recently they had been spiraling more and more out of his control.

It was always the same setting: Tartarus.

The particulars of his dreams changed though, getting worse with every passing night. Sometimes he was wandering alone, just walking through miles of endless destruction and chaos. Other times he was trying to reach his friends, even Bianca was there sometimes, but none of them knows he was there. They walked together through the heat and misery of Tartarus, but none of the ever once noticed him running after them, trying to catch up.

Worst of all, though, were the nightmares like the one he had just woken up from where he was searching for someone, but after he woke up from the dream he could never remember who it was he had been trying to find. He would dream he was running through the blistering heat of Tartarus, never getting anywhere, but knowing that someone that he cared about was waiting for him to save them.

However, tonight the dream was different because he finally knew who it was he was searching for in the depths of Tartarus. The hopelessness and mugginess of the air around him, the fear of unknown dangers, the crushing loneliness; all of that was nothing compared to the despair the dream had thrust upon him at the prospect of losing the one person that was starting to mean more to him than anyone else in the world. He had lost so much, but he knew that he couldn’t bear losing-

“Nico, are you alright?”

Nico jumped as a gentle hand rested on his shoulder, yanking him out of his thoughts. He turned to see Will Solace squatting on the ground beside him. Nearby Coach Hedge and the two young demigods they had found in an orphanage in Philadelphia, slept peacefully by the dying light of the campfire. They were only a few hours away from Camp, but the two young demigods had been too tired to go any further that night, despite Coach’s slightly violent encouragements. Watching the young brother and sister reminded Nico painfully of his own entrance into Camp Half-Blood years before with Bianca and Percy.

“I’m fine,” he said brusquely, shaking Will’s hand off his shoulder and standing up. “Why are you even awake?”

Will stood up, staying close to Nico. “I never sleep very deeply to begin with when I’m not at Camp, but then I heard you whimpering. What happened? Bad dream?”

“I’m fine,” Nico repeated, trying to hide the tremors that were still shaking him from his dream.

“Yeah, you look like you’re fine,” Will replied, sarcastically. “We’ve discussed this, di Angelo. You can talk to people about things, you don’t have to bottle everything up anymore.”

“I’m not bottling things up.”

“Yeah, you are. You’re the king of bottling.”

Nico shook his head. “Listen, Solace. . .”

“I know, I know,” Will said, waving his hand. “You don’t want to burden other people with your feelings, right?”

“That’s not it,” Nico murmured. “I just. . . I can’t talk about it. If I do, it just seems more real.”

Understanding lit Will’s eyes. “You were dreaming about Tartarus, weren’t you?” he asked gently.

Nico felt his heart clench Will’s words. “Yeah, I was” he replied softly. The darkness of the night seemed to darken as he spoke, almost solidifying.

“Do you dream about what happened to you there?” Will asked, placing his hand gently on Nico’s shoulder again.

This time Nico didn’t shake it off, but he didn’t reply right away either. When finally he did reply, his voice was barely a whisper. “Sometimes. Other times it’s my friends there instead of me. Or people getting dragged away from me into Tartarus. The dreams just always seems so real. What if I’m seeing visions of the future somehow? I can’t lose anyone else, Will, I just can’t. Especially not-” He broke off, his face turning red as he looked away from Will’s blue eyes.

“Especially not who? Hazel?” Will asked.

Nico shook his head, feeling his face heat up even more.

“Who then?” Will asked, confused.

“You,” Nico muttered, almost accusatorially, without meeting Will’s eyes.

Will was silent for a moment. Nico looked up just in time to see Will step forward, closing the space between them, and wrap his arms around Nico’s small frame.

Nico froze, speechless.

“I know you don’t like to be touched, but you’re going to have to deal with it for a minute because everyone needs hugs every so often, and you’re really overdue for one,” Will murmured. “I’m not going to get dragged to Tartarus, Nico. The gate was closed and I’ve got no intention of going anywhere near the Underworld any time soon. And even if I did get drug down there, you, Percy, and Annabeth all made it out of there alive, so I’d say that my chances of survival are be pretty good.”

Nico’s only response was a snort, the sound muffled by Will’s shoulder.

Will laughed softly. “But hey, if I wasn’t able to fight them off somehow, I could just tell them to back off or I’d send the son of Hades after them.”

“Yeah, that’d definitely scare them off,” Nico said sarcastically.

“No, I really think it would,” Will replied seriously. “Percy told me that he and Annabeth would have died down there if they hadn’t been together, but _you_ made it through all on your own. Just by making it out alive, you defeated the very place that our nightmares come from.” He tightened his arms around Nico briefly before letting go and taking a step back. “My money’s on you every time, di Angelo.”

Nico felt a smile tugging at the side of his mouth. “Good. Because if you really were stupid enough to get dragged into Tartarus, I’d have to jump in there after you.”

Will grinned in response. “That’s what I’m counting on.”


End file.
